Just as he was at N.C. State, Russell Wilson is a threat with both his arm and his legs as an NFL quarterback

CHARLOTTE – Russell Wilson isn’t the type that has to look hard to find motivation for anything, let alone playing in a football game.

Not that it didn’t come looking for him last week.

In addition to playing his first game back in North Carolina since severing ties with N.C. State under less-than-optimal circumstances in April 2011, Wilson also had to deal with a growing sentiment among fans back in Seattle that perhaps he isn’t quite ready to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Russell Wilson threw for 221 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's win against the Carolina Panthers

It’s a combination that could easily have become a distraction for most rookies. But as anyone who saw him play through the bulk of his college career knows, Wilson is anything but typical.

“I used it as fire,” Wilson said of both the anticipation and the criticism. “I can ignore the noise, but at the same time I know I have to get better. I’m a self-motivator. It’s the way I’ve always been. I trust in what I’m doing. I trust in the steps I’m taking every single day. All that attention to detail is what it takes to be good at what you do.”

Wilson has always been remarkable when it comes to his ability to lead and make plays, despite having to overcome the perception that at 5-foot-11, 206 pounds, he’s too small to play quarterback at the highest level.

He threw for 8,545 yards and 76 touchdowns in his three years as a starter at State, ranking second on the school’s all-time list behind only Philip Rivers. In 2010, he led the Wolfpack to nine wins and a trip to the Champs Sports Bowl before leaving to play minor league baseball and contentious transfer to Wisconsin.

His play, along with his maturity, made enough believers that Seattle traded up to take him in the third round of this year’s NFL draft. And even though the Seahawks spent big money to bring in free agent Matt Flynn, Wilson earned the starting job with a strong preseason.

“The biggest thing, obviously is just getting in there and playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played,” Wilson said.

Though he still made his share of rookie mistakes, including an errant throw that the Panthers’ Captain Munnerlyn picked off and returned for a 33-yard touchdown, Wilson lived up to his high expectations Sunday.

Russell Wilson gets a hug from Panthers quarterback Cam Newton after Sunday's game in Charlotte

Staying true to the weekly message he wrote on his wrist band before the game – poise – he bounced right back from the interception to lead his team into the end zone, hitting wide receiver Golden Tate with a 13-yard pass for the go-ahead touchdown. It was the highlight of a day in which he completed 19 of 25 for 221 yards while far outshining his Carolina counterpart – Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton.

“I thought Russell played a great football game today,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “… He’s just a stud competitor, and he has so much believe in himself that he doesn’t let stuff faze him. It’s because he has this extraordinary belief (in himself) that I wish we all had.”

Because of that belief and a dedication to hard work, there doesn’t seem to be much Wilson can’t do when he puts his mind to it.

Take his attentiveness to third down efficiency. It’s the shortcoming for which he’s received the most criticism the past two weeks after completing 1 of 10 passes for just three yards in a win against Green Bay and last week’s loss at St. Louis.

Sunday, though, he and the Seahawks converted seven of their 14 third down opportunities to help grind out the tough victory and improve to 3-2.

“That was our emphasis this week,” he said. “We can still get better … (but) that was a huge step for us today, a huge step for me.”

Russell Wilson made it clear Sunday that he's still a Wolfpacker at heart

The fact that he was able to take that step in front of what he described as “a lot of family and friends, and a lot of N.C. State fans” made the accomplishment that much sweeter.

As if his homecoming weekend couldn’t get any better, he received an extra bonus Saturday night by celebrating his first college team’s stirring upset of No. 3 Florida State.

“That was a huge win. It kept me up longer than I expected,” Wilson said of the Wolfpack’s come-from-behind victory, led by his former understudy Mike Glennon. “I told (teammate and Florida State graduate) Leon Washington that they’d get an upset like in 2010.”

Wilson was the quarterback in that game, also played on national television under the lights at Carter-Finley Stadium. It’s a fact that might easily be forgotten since State isn’t the alma mater officially attached to him by the NFL’s PR department.

But while the flip card and program for Sunday’s game may have indicated that he’s from Wisconsin, the rookie quarterback little doubt as to where his allegiance lies Sunday. He finished his postgame session with the media by saying “Go Pack!”

As he did, he was reminded by a reporter that he’s still never lost to a team that wears blue and calls itself “Carolina.”

It’s a fact he probably knew already. Not that he needed the motivation.